Credits
Director: René Clair
Script: René Clair
Photo: Maurice Desfassiaux, Paul Guichard
Cast: Henri Rollan (Albert), Louis Pré Fils, Albert Préjean (Pilot), Madeleine Rodrigue (Hesta), Myla Seller (Niece), Antoine Stacquet (Rich man), Marcel Vallée
Country: France
Language: French
Runtime: 36 min; B&W, silent
Aka: Paris Asleep; The Crazy Ray
Paris qui dort is a French film comedy first released in 1925, directed by René Clair. The film stars Henri Rollan, Louis Pré Fils, Albert Préjean, Madeleine Rodrigue and Myla Seller. It has also been released under the title: Paris Asleep.
The young keeper of the Eiffel Tower awakes one morning and, from his vantage point at the top of the tower, finds that the whole of Paris is at a standstill. On descending the tower, he finds the streets are filled with stationary cars and motionless people. He meets up with a group of tourists who have just landed in a biplane at Paris airport. Unable to explain what has happened, they waste no time profiting from their situation - acquiring new clothes, jewels and wads of bank notes. But they soon grow tired of their new-found freedom and return, bored, to the Eiffel Tower. There, they receive a radio message from a girl, asking to be rescued. She claims to know what has happened to Paris...